The folks at one of the groups backing legalization – the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol (CRMA) – sent out a press release recently that read in part:

“We welcome the news that Ken Buck has been selected to be one of the public faces of their campaign. From the day we turned in our signatures, we have been talking about the importance of reaching out to female voters ... [The women of this state] will consider the facts and make thoughtful decisions on their own. We are comforted by the fact that if as many women support Amendment 64 as opposed Ken Buck in 2010, we will cruise to victory in November.”

Oh snap!

For their part, Smart Colorado is rolling out some big guns of their own, like Roger Sherman, the COO at CRL Associates, a Denver-based lobbying and public policy group. “The people that we’re talking to don’t want to see [marijuana regulated like alcohol] in Colorado,” Sherman said in an early-June interview with the Colorado Statesman. “There’s great legal issues around this -- it’s bad for business as far as employers are concerned and it impacts how employers deal with their employees. We’re talking about huge ramifications on our children, on our state, and just the whole impacts on health and education.”

Here we see that eloquence is not Mr. Sherman’s strong suit. It also seems that fundraising is not the strong suit of Smart Colorado, who report $15,000 in donations, compared to the almost $2 million backing Amendment 64.

It’s about time that legalization has the strong financial backing its poll numbers say it should be getting. As for Smart Colorado…well, at least their name says “smart.”

Advocates behind Amendment 64 in Colorado – which would legalize and regulate marijuana for those 21 years of age and older – are getting a ton of support from donors who are from outside the state. In fact, out of almost $2 million raised, all but $16,500 has come from out-of-state.

Of course if Amendment 64 passes, opponents will say it wasn’t the choice of Colorado voters, but of “big money” from out-of-state.

This is a narrow view of things that ignores a couple of key factors. First, marijuana lobbying and campaign funding is still a new endeavor. Medical marijuana has only existed legally for 16 years (and only then in one state). Most of the money behind marijuana advocacy still resides in California.

Second, a victory in Colorado is a victory for everyone in The United States who supports marijuana law reform. There will finally be a state regulating marijuana as a legal product for all adults. There will be a place advocates can point to and show the success of what we have been talking about for the last few decades.

A win in Colorado will also embolden those in other states to be more aggressive about their own marijuana law reform efforts. The effect would be incalculable.

Mason Tvert, a leader of the pro-Amendment 64 “Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol” said, "This is the best opportunity we've ever had to end marijuana prohibition at the state level and begin regulating it like alcohol.”

But there is a long way to go. A lot of money and good poll numbers are nothing without the effort to win over the voters of Colorado. For marijuana law reform advocates, this is a golden opportunity that cannot be squandered.

After California’s failed Proposition 19 initiative in 2010, marijuana legalizers are optimistic about two new ballot measures in Colorado and Washington.

At least three states are likely to vote on marijuana-legalization initiatives in 2012, but the measures in Colorado and Washington — two states with legalized medical pot and some permissive local laws — may stand the best chances of succeeding, having already qualified for the respective November ballots.

“These are going to be serious campaigns,” said Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the national drug-policy reform group Drug Policy Alliance. “Each one has a decent shot of becoming the first state in the country to embrace this policy change.”

Those who support legalization got their hopes up briefly in 2010. A late-September poll by Field Research showed Proposition 19 winning in California, after an election cycle that saw pot become almost mainstream as a political topic. Marijuana was aided by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s call for discussion of legalized pot in 2009, along with positive polling and the call by Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., for legalization in response to the drug war. Suddenly, pot seemed to go from a social taboo to reasonable fodder for policy discussion.

Proposition 19 failed 46.5 percent to 53.5 percent.

In Colorado and Washington, however, the measures have more momentum.

Backers of Washington’s I-502 initiative, to tax and regulate the production and sale of marijuana statewide, have already raised $1.2 million since the beginning of their signature drive in 2011. In Colorado, the campaign for a similar initiative says it has attracted hundreds of thousands of dollars through Marijuana Policy Project, a national pot-legalization group.

“We’re just about to buy about $600,000 worth of TV for the fall,” said Mason Tvert, co-director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is pushing the initiative. Those will follow the TV ad shown below, which ran on Mother’s Day, featuring a purported daughter emailing her mother to explain a conversion from college binge-drinking days to more mature, adult pot-smoking. (“I hope this makes sense, but if not, let’s talk,” the narrator proposes , thoughtfully.)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York is calling for his state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, noting that pot busts apprehend a disproportionate number of young African-Americans and Latinos.

New York City arrested 50,684 people in 2011 for possessing small amounts of cannabis, often in stop-and-frisk circumstances in which police ask suspects to empty their pockets.

The call by Cuomo, which must be approved by the New York Legislature, comes as two states — Washington and Colorado — get set to vote in November on measures that would legalize marijuana and put the state in charge of regulating its growing and sale.

Seattle is host each summer to Hempfest, the largest cannabis celebration in North America. The city also voted in 2003 to put marijuana possession at the bottom of its law enforcement priorities.